Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and other coalition leaders on Monday castigated PTI chief Imran Khan for levelling \u201cpoisonous allegations\u201d against the armed forces and \u201cputting blots\u201d on the appointment of the new army chief.<\/p>\n
Their comments come a day after Imran, at a rally in Faisalabad, alleged that the PPP and PML-N were opposing fresh elections, because they wanted to \u201cappoint an army chief of their choice\u201d in November to save their skin in corruption cases.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey want to bring their own army chief\u2026they are afraid that if a strong and patriotic army chief is appointed then he would ask them about the looted wealth,\u201d the former prime minister said.<\/p>\n
\u201cThey are sitting [in the government] because they want to bring in an army chief of their choice through joint efforts,\u201d Imran claimed, adding that the army chief should be \u201cappointed on merit\u2026whoever is on the top of the merit list should be appointed\u201d to head the institution.<\/p>\n
Gen Qamar Javed Bajwa, who was appointed in 2016, is set to retire in the last week of November. The army chief\u2019s appointment is meant to be for three years, but Gen Bajwa was given an additional three-year term in 2019 after a bit of political drama.<\/p>\n
Responding to the PTI chief\u2019s statements, PM Shehbaz, in a tweet today, said that Imran\u2019s \u201cdespicable utterances to malign institutions\u201d were touching new levels every day.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe is now indulging in direct mud-slinging & poisonous allegations against Armed Forces & its leadership,\u201d he said, adding that Imran\u2019s \u201cnefarious agenda\u201d was aimed at disrupting and undermining Pakistan.<\/p>\n
In a statement on Twitter, PPP co-chairman Asif Ali Zardari said that the nation was now aware of the person spreading chaos in the country. \u201cToday, everyone knows [who is the] man and the beast.<\/p>\n
\u201cThis man is determined to weaken the country, but we won\u2019t let that happen,\u201d he alleged, vowing that the government won\u2019t let the state institutions and generals fall prey to Imran\u2019s \u201clust\u201d.<\/p>\n
The former president also criticised the governments of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab for not actively participating in the flood activities, saying that everywhere only the federal government could be seen.<\/p>\n
Federal Minister for Planning and Development Ahsan Iqbal tweeted that amid the catastrophic floods, the PTI chairman had resorted to polluting the political space.<\/p>\n
\u201cImran Niazi continues to pollute the political space and push the country towards extreme polarisation and putting blots on all state institutions including the appointment of new COAS? What is his end game? More anarchy & chaos?\u201d<\/p>\n
Meanwhile, Minister for Climate Change and PPP leader Sherry Rehman alleged that Imran was spreading hatred against the security agencies without realising it.<\/p>\n
\u201cThose who violated the Constitution and plotted against the interests of the country are now calling the Bhutto and Zardari family traitors,\u201d she tweeted.<\/p>\n
\u201cNow this \u2018ladla\u2019 is accusing PPP and the PML-N of taking concessions by installing their favourite army chief. He [Imran] is giving treason certificates to us by making institutions controversial.\u201d<\/p>\n
Rehman added that Imran could not prove any of the cases lodged against the coalition government even after keeping the opponents in jail for two years.<\/p>\n
More than 33 million people, the minister went on, had been affected by the floods while millions were rendered homeless. \u201cMany towns and villages have been submerged but one man is still calling for elections. Is this person\u2019s ego and politics bigger than people\u2019s lives?\u201d she added.<\/p>\n
From London, PML-N leader Ishaq Dar said that Imran was bent on making the army chief\u2019s appointment political. \u201cWill this person decide which chief is a patriot and which one is not?\u201d he asked.<\/p>\n
The next army chief\u2019s appointment is at times mentioned as one of the major subplots in the ongoing political crisis engulfing the country.<\/p>\n
In an interview with BBC Urdu in May, Defence Minister Khawaja Asif said: \u201cImran Khan wanted to do things his own way on the matter of the new army chief\u2019s appointment. He wanted to ensure the protection of his political interests and the continuity of his rule.\u201d<\/p>\n
That same month, Imran said he never wanted to bring his own army chief and that he never meddled in Pakistan Army\u2019s affairs.<\/p>\n
But as if the appointment is seemingly at the heart of the matter, President Arif Alvi had late last month said in his opinion there was \u201cno harm\u201d in appointing the next army chief before the expiry of the incumbent\u2019s term.<\/p>\n
\u201cIn my opinion, there is no harm in making the army chief\u2019s appointment ahead of time,\u201d he told reporters.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Prime Minister Shehbaz Sharif and other coalition leaders on Monday castigated PTI chief Imran Khan for levelling \u201cpoisonous allegations\u201d against the armed forces and \u201cputting blots\u201d on the appointment of the new army chief. Their comments come a day after Imran, at a rally in Faisalabad, alleged that the PPP and PML-N were opposing fresh […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":281605,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[2],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-281604","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-top-news"},"yoast_head":"\n